By ANDY GRIMM
Chicago Sun-Times
A woman was fatally shot, and a man critically injured outside a Starbucks at 35th and State Friday afternoon. | Andy Grimm/Sun-Times
Yvonne Nelson, a “completely innocent” city 311 operator, was killed by errant gunfire in a gang-related shooting two blocks from Chicago Police headquarters in Bronzeville Friday afternoon.
The shooting came just minutes after a press conference touting a major “gang takedown,” police said.
At 3:52 p.m., a 19-year-old man flagged down officers in the 3500 block of South State Street, saying he had been shot, and they found the 49-year-old Nelson on a sidewalk nearby with a gunshot wound to the chest, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
Nelson, of the 4900 block of South Vincennes, was taken to Stroger Hospital, where she died at 4:33 p.m., authorities said. She had been a communications operator for 311 City Services since 2002, according to a statement from the Office of Emergency Management and Communications.
Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson, department spokesman Frank Giancamilli and First Deputy Supt. John Escalante near shooting scene. |Andy Grimm/For Sun-Times
“Our thoughts and prayers are with her family, friends and colleagues during this difficult time. She will be deeply missed by her fellow staff at 311,” an OEMC statement said.
The man was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital with gunshot wounds to the hand and buttocks. His condition stabilized, police said.
Police said the 19-year-old was a documented gang member and the target of the shooting. He worked at the Jimmy John’s restaurant a few doors down from the Starbucks where Nelson was found.
But franchise co-owner Diane Landry disputed CPD’s description and said he had been a good employee over three-plus years.
“Maybe (he was) when he was 15 or something,” said Landry, who hired him through a program for neighborhood youth. Landry said the victim may have had some sort of troubles as a teenager, but had no problems during the three-plus years he’d worked for her.
“He was a great guy. He never missed a shift, and he was always picking up shifts for other people,” she said, noting the store manager was at the hospital with the victim’s family.
Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson walked two blocks from CPD headquarters at 35th and Michigan to the crime scene after a press conference announcing a sweep of arrests in a gang investigation.
“This incident right here highlights what I’ve been saying for the past month and a half about how brazen these violent offenders are,” Johnson said.
No one was in custody for the shooting Friday night.